Development tidbits, struggles, revelations, and still some Flash

Flash playback is coming to the Sony PSP, but not sure why only Flash 6? With Flash 8 and FlashLite 2.0 out, I figured we would at least get Flash 7 capabilities… maybe Sony will fix this or maybe we can count on the PSP community.

I don’t own a PSP yet, but I have been thinking about it for quite some time. With the new reduced pricing (no value pack) and the upcoming hardware and software upgrades coming, I am getting to that point I want to get one.

Over at the UltraShock forums, they are taking suggestions for features for AfterEffects for when Eric of 2Advanced meets with Adobe to talk about AfterEffects and how it can be improved to work better with Flash. Head over and give your input.  This reminded me of a forum discussion at FlashFilmmaker.com that I stumbled upon recently. Chris Georgenes was getting opinions of how Flash could be improved for better AE/Flash integration, specifically the future of the Flash timeline.

Personally, I would love to see Flash become more like AE. I had a hard time adjusting to the Flash timeline when I first started using it 8 years ago and I always found the Flash timeline odd, and the lack of real control limiting when animating. Now, I have long since adjusted to this but there are still days that it just makes me scream.

So this got me thinking again that maybe Adobe was looking to bring back LiveMotion – or atleast its essence. Adobe definitely is asking around on how to bring these two applications together and provide better integration. Changing the Flash timeline could upset a lot of existing users. Plenty of people are just used to working with the Flash timeline and for many, this is the only timeline they have ever worked with.  I think there are similar uses of AfterEffects — people who have been using the app since its incarnation and would not appreciate “dumbing it down” to gain more users from the Flash community.

So bringing back LiveMotion (maybe they’ll call it Flash Pro Animator or even AfterEffects Elements) makes a lot of sense to me. Give LiveMotion a 2006 update to bring it up to Flash 8 features, fix the poor ActionScript support (from what I remember AS was painful in LM), provide some new features such as being able to import and export of both FLA and AE projects and sell it for an attractive price point.   Oh yeah..and kill off the Flash Basic product.

Just my two cents.. take it for what its worth.

Thanks to biskero.org for blogging about WP 2.0 being released. I just upgraded and everything went fine (knock on wood). So far, I am like the update. I hope to get some more time under the seat with WP2 later today and tomorrow and see what else is lurking.

One thing for sure is I like the new setup for writing posts. Much nicer than before.

Google Analytics seems to be up and running now. I know many of us tried it out when it was launched this week, set up our pages, and then watched as no results came back. 12 hours, 24 hours, 36, 48 and still nothing.

Finally, last night I saw results come in. Below is a static of my GeoMap so far. Hmm…. wonder if they have a Flash API?

Things have been a bit hectic the last few weeks. I finished up some work for a client, rushed out to LA for Colin Moocks ActionScript bootcamp (quick drive from Vegas), got back to Vegas in time to wrap up some other work and get the final exam written for the ActionScript class I am teaching (today was last day of class and their final projects were due also).

But I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My wife and I are taking off to Cabo this coming week to enjoy some much needed rest. I am looking forward to relaxing at the resort, doing some swimming, snorkeling and eating lots of good food. I had to turn down two projects this week because I wasn’t about to work while on vacation. I know better than to do that (besides — wife would shoot me )

So things will be quiet for a week, but I hope to come back with good stories of sun, surf, and seafood!!